Fans of the 2019 cyberpunk film Alita: Battle Angel, took their demand for a sequel to Twitter and got #AlitaSequel trending on the social media site. The film's recent release on HBO may have helped reignite the loyal fanbase, who had previously created a petition for a sequel in October 2019.

Alita: Battle Angel is based on a 1990 manga called Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro. The film is about a cyborg woman who embarks on a quest to recover her lost memory in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk future. Along the way, Alita participates in the violent sport Motorball and becomes a feared bounty hunter. The film adaptation was a long-gestating project for producer James Cameron (Terminator), who originally intended to direct, but, instead, handed the film off to director Robert Rodriguez in order to avoid conflicts with the upcoming Avatar sequels.

Alita: Battle Angel was barely a box office success and suffered from unfavorable reviews, but that hasn't deterred the massive cult following from continuing to demand a sequel. Using #AlitaSequel, fans spent the day (and well into the evening) posting a plethora of images, clips, and memes from Alita: Battle Angel to Twitter. As of writing, there have been over 19k tweets made to the social media site, and some fans have even gone as far as suggesting potential storylines from the manga to adapt into future films.


Alita: Battle Angel took years to develop, and the finished film was expensive to produce. It turns out, utilizing a combination of motion-capture and live-action to realize the manga-like proportions of its big-eyed lead is as costly as it is complicated. American audiences didn't rush to theaters to see the movie, but it eventually made back its huge budget overseas, so maybe there's hope for a sequel yet. In response to the fan-created petition for a sequel, Jon Landau, who also produced Alita: Battle Angel, encouraged fans to "keep peppering" the film's studio 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios and owned by Disney) with their requests. There's no telling if the current push to greenlight another film will ultimately impact Disney's final decision.

Rosa Salazar (Undone), the film's star, previously expressed interest in returning to the role, and Cameron (along with Rodriguez) reportedly has plans for future films. Disney, however, is still in the process of figuring out how to handle the myriad of properties they gained the rights to after acquiring Fox. Not to mention, the studio is currently juggling multiple, globally-successful franchises like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which means that a less-profitable film like Alita: Battle Angel might not be the highest priority.